I’m still lacking headphones so I’m running without them, this means I seem to be thinking a lot more, what follows is pretty much the chain of thought I had on this morning’s run.

Again the lack of music meant I could hear my heavy footfalls and breathing and also the rain that lashed down on me for much of the run.

To compensate for the lack of music my mental jukebox usually ensures that I have a song stuck in my head for most of the run, the other day I had Lady Gaga’s “Judas” and as I got ready for today’s run the Roy Orbison classic “Pretty Woman”.

Tune

This didn’t last long as just as I ran alongside a church the bells started ringing, making me jump out of my skin and almost do a Quasimodo impression. It kind of reminded me of being woken up in Morocco by the call to prayer, which was a fairly cool way to be woken up and made me start thinking that its high time I had another overseas jaunt.

The question is, where to?

I ran on and realised that as well as missing having a soundtrack to my run I also miss having the soft tones of Nike Lady popping into my ears every now and then. Partly because it meant I always knew how far I’d done, but also because it always makes me feel like I’m in Star Trek and the computer is talking to me.

I wonder if they do special Star Trek sat-navs in the voice of the computer? That’d probably sell, right?

Thinking about Star Trek I remembered that the computer voice lady was also Deanna Troi’s mum and also played the rather foxy Nurse Chapel in the original series, probably because she was shacked up with the creator Gene Roddenbery. A google search shows that her name is Majel Barrett.

Thinking of Nurse Chapel meant that I thought of the other women of Star Trek, and that diverted me for a bit, but that’s a whole other blog post.

Nurse Chapel

I also saw a rowing team training on the river, I’ve seen them before and I quite admire how well they work as a team, it also makes me realise that I really do need to get cracking on the “Joining a gym” part of my resolutions. So after payday, I’ll have to get down there and join.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, it’ll help with the weight loss and also increase my strength and tone up my arms, which are pretty doughy at the moment. Yes, definitely join a gym, and I’ve already got a handful of gym puns to use as post titles.

I’ve been thinking that next time Sport Relief comes round I’d like to be able to do the 6 mile run. I’ve got about 2 years, so I figure if I keep going with the running it shouldn’t be a problem.

As well as joining the gym I’ll also have a new way of keeping fit, and for getting about as I’m being given a bike next month. Its my brother-in-law’s old one and he’s offered me it, which is nice, the only problem is that I have to actually learn to ride a bike first.

Chris Hoy has nothing to fear

Yes, I know not being able to ride a bike at 26 is kind of odd, but I’m getting round to it eventually. I did think that it would also be great for getting to work, and then remembered that the entire journey to work is uphill. D’oh!

I thought about the rowing team and the Boat Race. Last week there was some controversy about some numpty jumping in the river and almost getting clonked on the head, meaning that the race had to be stopped. I’ve never got the appeal of the Boat Race, I mean, I’ll happily watch the rowing at the Olympics, but I just can’t get worked up about Cambridge and Oxford going head-to-head, I think its partly because of the posh factor, but also I’ve heard they’re not proper students.

I think this is a shame, it should be two teams of rank amateurs just doing their best for their uni. Bringing in ringers, or giving places to good rowers just seems against the spirit of the thing, you should have to work with whatever you’ve got. Like when I was at Lampeter the football team was whoever signed up for it, had they deliberately gone out and recruited good players and wooed them in I don’t think the team would have had the same team spirit and “all a bit of fun” attitude. In fact, I think the awfulness of the team’s Second XI was why I went to watch. I’d support my mates, sure, but I also loved the enthusiastic, if hopeless way they’d keep going even when trailing 5-0.

I almost regret only getting on this health kick in the last year, and not doing it when I was uni and could have been one of those useless players on the field.

Maybe I should look into joining a team, a local place does five-a-side leagues, which might be fun, I just need to find at least four more guys now.

Anyway, I started to loop back, crossing the river and watching as the cormorants came in to land. I do like the fact I see a bit of nature on my runs, even if it is mainly gulls and pigeons, but I do see other birds and I always keep my eye out for seals. I’ve never heard of seals being in Swansea bay, but I still have a quick scan across the water just in case.

I didn’t like the look of the heavy grey clouds overhead and feared a storm, as a massive metal bridge probably isn’t the best place to be during one. I ran back and started thinking about what I’d do if I stumbled across someone who’d been injured or something. Morbid, I know, but something I think about fairly frequently and which I intend to discuss in greater depth in another post.

I do get a little introspective on my runs and I started thinking about some stuff I need to do, as I’m planning a career change fairly soon, and need to take some steps to get the ball rolling.

It made me think that despite not liking my job most of the time it has helped me in some ways. I wouldn’t even have considered what I have planned before I did this job, and also, its taught me a lot about myself and made me realise that I’m a lot cooler in a crisis that I thought I would be and that I can deal with stressful situations fairly well.

So, while the last three years in my job have been quite rough at times its good to see that there is a positive and the fact that I have an idea for where I want my life to go is reassuring as I’ve been directionless for quite a long time.

Again, that’s something I’ll probably circle back to and cover in greater depth at a later date.